1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a panoramic photography method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for identifying motion of a photographing apparatus and automatically photographing respective images of a panoramic picture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image capture unit functions to obtain an image in a digital image photographing apparatus by forming an image within a focal length of a lens thereof. Here, the obtained image is within a range of the viewing angle (between about 30° to 50° for general cameras), which is smaller than the human visual angle (between about 150° to 200°). In a conventional method of photographing multiple images while properly changing the viewing angle, and inter-connecting the photographed images in sequence to reorganize them into one consecutive image, thereby obtaining a picture with a viewing angle similar to or larger than the human visual angle, such a conventional method is referred to as a method for photographing a panoramic picture.
In a panoramic picture photographing mode, a conventional digital image photographing apparatus photographs several images to be inter-connected horizontally or vertically, and then stores them in a memory. The images stored in the memory are subsequently provided to an appropriate interior/exterior image processor, and are inter-connected into one consecutive image. At this time, in order to eliminate color differences and image discords at the boundaries between the images, digital image photographing apparatuses photograph multiple images with sufficient overlap between their boundaries, and then align the images by adjusting their boundaries. Thereafter, the apparatuses perform image processing, including stitching and bending. Through this process, a single image including naturally inter-connected multiple images is obtained.
High priority in photographing a panoramic picture is preferably placed on the capture of such images being aligned as accurately as possible. To this end, an accessory apparatus, such as a tripod, is usually used in a manual photographing by a user. Recently, a method has been suggested in which a corresponding photographing apparatus is mounted on a tripod or the like, and the mounted photographing apparatus is rotated according to respective images in panorama photographing. An example of such a method is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0052444 filed on Jul. 29, 2003, entitled “Camera And Method for Photographing Panorama Picture”, the applicant of which is Samsung Techwin Co. Ltd., and the inventor of which is BAE, Sung-cheol. Further to the above-described methods, a method has also been suggested, in which an apparatus having a function of detecting a rotation angle may be additionally mounted on the corresponding photographing apparatus, and a user sets the rotation angle of the photographing apparatus in advance so that the respective images are photographed by rotational displacement over the rotation angle of the photographing apparatus pre-set by the user in panorama photographing.
Furthermore, in order to align the respective images more accurately in a case of photographing panoramic pictures without mounting an accessory element or additional hardware on the corresponding photographing apparatus, a method has been provided in which the partial region of the border of a previously photographed image is represented appropriately overlapping with the current image for photographing when photographing respective images, so that the user can control an appropriate position for photographing by adjusting the pre-photographed image with the current photographing image. An example of such the method is disclosed in US Publication No. 2004/0189849 filed on Mar. 31, 2003, entitled “Panoramic Sequence Guide” in the name of an inventor, Gregory V. Hofer.
Photographing the panoramic picture requires more user-sophistication and proficiency vis-a-vis photographing a general single image, and this has necessitated better and more convenient solutions for manipulating and photographing images.